My taco buddy José Ralat-Maldonado (aka Taco Trail) is crazy about Rock and Roll Tacos, and he reports that owner James Quiñonez is taking over LaGrange’s kitchen and revamping the restaurant to become more serious about its tacos. José writes:
For one, he’s installing the bed of a 1954 Chevy pickup truck converted into a salsa bar with 15 varieties of the America’s leading condiment, working taillights and an exhaust pipe connected to a smoke machine, two-inch white walls and red pin-striping. A wall will be lined with vinyl LPs.
Menus additions will include elote shooters, shrimp cocktails, house-made mole poblano, mac n cheese with shaved habanero, serrano and Anaheim chilies, chocoflan, what James Quiñonez calls, “the works, man.”
And then there is the expanded taco program, now with fajitas, chicken chipotle, steak and Mexican gravy tacos, a fried-to-order hard shell job brisket, Baja-style beer batter-fried fish and shrimp tacos, as well as something James Quiñonez says he ate when he visited Mexico: bacon-wrapped shrimp with bell peppers, onions and jack cheese.
They’ll be joined by two vegetarian options. One with black bean, rice, avocado and queso fresco in a hard shell another with purple potatoes, mushrooms, caramelized onions and cotija cheese.
You are probably wondering how this has anything to do with you. Well, José is feeling mighty generous today. On Wednesday, May 16, from 5-8 p.m. there will be a soft opening for family and friends at LaGrange. (The official opening goes down on May 31.) He has one pass (I lied in the headline) that is good for two people.
If you’d like to go to this exclusive event, tell me in the comments section where you get your tacos in Dallas. I’ll enter all the names in one pot and pick a random winner tomorrow (Tuesday, May 15) at 3:00 p.m. Whoever wins will receive an email from me with instructions on how to claim your pass.
Do you get several emails a day from companies like Groupon that offer discounted meals at Dallas restaurants?Some local businesses have experienced great success while others have lost money and have spent hours haggling with dissatisfied potential customers. One consumer asks the question
My girlfriend knows I love [fancy Italian restaurant], and she came across an offer on one of those coupon sites (Groupon/Living Social/Gilt City) recently so she bought one. Then today I got an email from a different coupon site for another deal at [same fancy Italian restaurant]. I don’t know how helpful these sites are for a business, but do you or any of your restaurant people think they are a sign that a restaurant is in trouble? Or is it just [fancy Italian restaurant] hoping to stir up some new business?
I’d love to hear from owners and customers: how has this new wave of coupon-clipping worked for you? If you could make it better, what would you do? Go.
(Rangers)
Bob’s Steak and Chop House and Jasper’s have a new neighbor opening this weekend at The Shops at Legacy as Capital Grille opens the doors of their new 300 seat restaurant.
If you can’t get up to The Shops at Legacy in Plano to enjoy a glass or bottle off their award winning wine list, visit their Dallas location as they continue their Generous Pour event through September 4.
I had an opportunity to experience this Generous Pour over dinner the other evening and found it to be one of the best wine deals in town for both discovering high rated, highly allocated and interesting wine at an exceptional price. For just $25 (per person with dinner) guests will taste a generous pours of 9 different wines hand selected by Capital Grille Master Sommelier George Miliotes. You can try as many or as few as you like, creating your favorite pairing throughout your meal.
We named them Best Bakery for Sweets in 2010. Before that, they were featured in People magazine for making Tony Romo’s birthday cake. Today it appears that even Oak Lawn stalwart, A&J Bakery, has gotten on the Groupon bandwagon with a 50% off deal just in time for the holiday weekend.
When it’s this hot, I’m all about making life easier. So if you, like I, need cupcakes for a July 4 picnic but don’t want to heat up your house by baking them yourself…